$1,000 Two rooms in a sunny Palo Alto coop - available May 1 and June 1! (palo alto)

Hello! We have two rooms opening in our house starting on May 1st and on June 1st.
We are looking for a new housemate to come and join our lively house! One room is adjacent to the kitchen; it has hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and a side window.
The other is a larger room on the first floor; it has a large window, a skylight, and a big closet.
Over the years, we’ve had couples and singles living in both rooms.
If you are interested in joining our house, read on to find out more about the process and fill out our google form! Application (copy/paste url): https://forms.
gle/oMz3spbDhpT1PM949 ~~~~~~~~ A little about us: * We currently have 9 people in 8 rooms, but we've had up to 12 people (including 4 couples) at once in the past.
Two people are moving out which is why two rooms are opening up.
* Some of us have been part of this community for years, and some of us are new, but folks usually stay a year or more.
* Some of us have jobby jobs, some are grad students, and some are looking for what’s next.
Some of us work from home, and some of us go to the office/lab most days.
Hybrid work is common.
Current residents include: * - A: 25yo male.
Likes to bake sourdough bread and cook food.
Makes music.
Likes to play basketball, spike ball, board games and other games.
Works on conversation and climate things.
* - S: 37yo, she/her.
Loves long walks and spending time outside, singing and playing music, practicing yoga, and playfulness.
Values maintaining personal daily rituals while also living in community.
Is a social worker/therapist who gets a lot of fulfillment and from her work.
Y’s human companion.
* - M: 29 y/o womshe/her an.
Loves being outdoors, especially around the ocean.
Fascinated by fishes and researches them for work.
Also enjoys playing chess, cooking and reading.
* - B: 26yo male.
Loves board games, moving his body in fun and interesting ways, and the cozy feeling of a group of people singing or making food together.
Climate tech software engineer.
* - E: 31yo female.
Loves running/hiking/cycle touring long distances, preferably in the mountains.
Researcher-advocate finishing a PhD on climate relocation, always down to chat about ideas of “home”.
Ashtanga yogi and plant momma, for whom vegetarian feasts are a love language.
* - C: 23yo male.
Loves playing boardgames, frisbee, and spikeball and is a talented juggler and pianist.
Sofware engineer who loves solving problems.
* - S: 30yo male.
Loves to ride bicycles, motorcycles, unicycles, and anything that has wheels.
Works from home and spends his day thinking about construction technologies.
Loves to go camping and backpacking, will almost always say “YES!” to dancing, and is a novice practitioner of laughter yoga.
* D: 28yo male.
Budding researcher.
Enjoys working with hands, volunteering, watching movies, and learning cool things from other housemates.
* - C: 3 y/o female cat.
Shy but loving and playful when she warms up.
Favorite activities include watching critters out the window, getting belly rubs, and eating churu treats * - Y: 10-ish year old male German Shepherd Chow mix.
Loves people and animals and living in community, which suits his social nature! A quiet, sweet, enthusiastic pup who can often be found lying in the sun when not out and about walking S (37) around.
* Our larger community includes significant others, friends, families, and a few eating associates (EAs) who share our food with us.
* Sometimes the house is dark on Saturday night, sometimes we're all home hanging out, singing songs and playing instruments or board games.
* We support each other when we're low or sick.
* We celebrate each other's accomplishments.
* Parties are rare but we do 'em right.
* In general, alcohol and drug consumption is minimal (but present).
* Our house is cozy and sound travels.
Quiet hours on week nights are 10:30pm-7:30am.
~~~~~~~~ Responsibilities and commitments of the Box life: * Teams of 2-3 cook vegetarian meals for the house 4 nights a week (each resident once/week) and clean the kitchen after dinner.
Our food is yummy, folks.
Whole Foods is 2 blocks away and Trader Joe’s is equally convenient via bicycle or on foot.
There are two nearby farmers markets on the weekends.
We share responsibility to pick up our CSA box and shop at Costco for shared food.
* 3 people thoroughly clean the house for 2.
5 hours/person each weekend - this is probably our most solemn responsibility.
Each person does this ~ once every three weeks.
* We work hard to make our house beautiful, clean, and moderately classy by hosting house work days every quarter.
Everyone is expected to participate in work day as we collaborate in making house improvements.
* We have a house meeting once a month.
* We have a dog and a cat.
We are open to accommodating pet allergies.
* We are also open to accommodating people whose disabilities prevent them from sharing chores, such as cleaning and cooking, in the ways described above.
* * We absolutely do not tolerate racism, sexism, hate speech, or other discriminatory language or behavior.
~~~~~~~~ The Room One room is adjacent to the kitchen; it has hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and a side window.
The other is a larger room on the first floor; it has a large window, a skylight, and a big closet.
Over the years, we’ve had couples and singles living in both rooms.
~~~~~~~~ How much does it cost? Rent & Security Deposit * Right now, rent for the entire house is $7750/month.
If we had 8 singles this would be split to $969 per month.
However, this number fluctuates depending on the total rent and how many singles vs.
doubles live in the house.
Since we currently have one double, rent for this room is currently $945 per month.
* A deposit is held equal to 1.
5*(your monthly rent).
Because monthly rent is subject to change depending on how many people live in the house, the deposit can fluctuate.
* Utilities average $70 - 120 per month, and are more expensive in the winter months.
Monthly House Dues * We have monthly house dues that contribute to a social fund ($10/month) and a home improvement fund ($15/month).
We decide how to spend this money, whether it is for hosting an event/party or building something around the house.
* We also contribute monthly to a bulk food fund for those bigger bulk food orders (flour, sugar, grains, dried beans, etc.
that we get from a bulk supplier) ($15/month).
Food & House Items * We also share the costs of house supplies (laundry detergent, TP, internet, etc).
This fluctuates widely from month to month but averages to about $15/month/person * We share the cost of food as a house.
We get our produce through a community supported agriculture (CSA) box from Full Belly Farm and other items such as eggs/oat milk/tortillas/breads/cheese/etc.
from a roughly biweekly Costco run.
This shared food comes out to about $150-225 total per month.
This however excludes some items which residents may decide to buy for themselves (alcohols, meat, special teas/coffee, ice cream treats that you may want to keep for yourself!) TLDR: Right now, a single person in either of the available rooms would pay around $1,100 - 1,300/month which includes utilities, shared food, and house supplies.
~~~~~~~~ COVID-19 policies and commitments: * We maintain open lines of communication about comfort, risk, potential exposures, and comings-and-goings to and from the community.
We are committed to looking out for each other and adapt our COVID-19 protocols accordingly on a consensus basis.
~~~~~~~~ Here is the process we will use to fill the spot: * Notify our immediate community of the spot, seeking interest, and describe our process.
(This is that!) * Get to know you.
If you seem like a good fit, we will reach out to schedule a call with one or two housemates.
* House vist.
We plan to host an open house tentatively on April 13th.
Finalists can come over and get to know all of the housemates, the room, and the shared spaces.
* The residents will meet in mid April with a list of names and the intention of finishing the process.
* Without discussion, individual names may be non-anonymously removed from the list by any resident.
* Each resident then has the opportunity to silently and anonymously write down zero to three names on pieces of paper and place them in a "hat".
* Up to 3 names will be drawn at random from the hat, and the spot will be offered to those individuals in that order until it is filled.
~~~~~~~~ If you are interested in the spot, let us know by filling out the application form linked above! Looking forward to hearing from you, Box of Rain